That sounded like nothing more than an abomination wearing the title of something holy—and the realization made Manaka's heart pound. Again, so similar— She had been marked before she was born, and he had been filled with the thoughts of his "angel" well before he had died, but it was close enough to make the air in her lungs feel thin.

Without thinking, she let her feet drop back to the floor and stood. She just couldn't bear to sit still and idle any longer, with the way she could feel her blood thrumming in her veins. Clasping her hands behind her back, Manaka smiled and swayed, twirling around to face Walter again.

"There wasn't any angel. There was only the Holy Grail, and the wishes inside it." If there had been something human in her expression, his question had washed it away, her own eyes locked on something far away over the top of his head. "The Holy Church wanted it to give them an angel, or even a god... But from the start, that thing was corrupt. The very antithesis of what they had hoped for."